When I grow up
by CSIflea
Summary: We all have dreams growing up, mine was just a little different.


Today was one of the happiest days of my life and I trust me I don't have many of those. It may sound like a cliché, but I really had a wonderful childhood with awesome parents who loved me a lot. Unfortunately my fairy tale had a not so happy ending. You see, when I was ten years old I witnessed my parents being brutally murdered by a serial killer named "The Foster Parent". Not a very creative name, but then again he didn't deserve one. My parents were the last people he killed and I was his last kidnap-victim. The BAU went after this guy with everything they had. I found out later that some of the team went days without sleep and would only stop their work to eat when forced to do so. The Foster Parent had already killed four families before he'd targeted mine.

Let me start at the beginning. My name is Sue Pearson. The Foster Parent made headlines when I was ten. He would kidnap families where there was one child and then brutally murder the family while the child would be forced to watch. He then would take the child whose body would only be found a couple of weeks later. After the body was found, another family disappeared. The local police called in the FBI who sent their profilers. The lead agent told the press that they were working on the case, but then two more families went missing. The press called them useless; my father believed that they would catch him though.

They did, but after he took my family. I won't go into details; actually I can't go into details. Okay, it's more a case of I don't want to go into details. I can't even think about that day without breaking down in tears and I won't do that, not today. I watched him kill my father and then a couple of hours later, my mother followed. The weird thing is that after that he shared my grief, he held me while I cried, treated me like I was his child. For a while at least. Then he started shouting at me and abusing me in unspeakable ways. He kept saying that I wasn't right, that something was missing. On the day that he took me to the woods to kill me (he told me so), the most amazing thing happened. The Foster Parent drugged me before we left the house, so part of the ride to the woods is a little hazy. Next thing I knew, he had a knife, and he was pressing it to my stomach. I looked up and saw the FBI agents standing there. I immediately looked to the lead one, the one that had spoken on TV.

The Foster Parent cut me along my stomach, threw me to the ground and ran into the woods. I heard shouting and what I now know to be gunshots. All that I could focus on though was the intense pain in my stomach. Then he was there then, leaning over me, talking to me. He made me feel safe. I later found out that they killed the guy. Good riddance to bad rubbish, as my grandma used to say.

A few months later I went to live with friends of my mom and dad, who later adopted me. I didn't have anyone else left as my grandparents died when I was still small.

I won't bore you with the details of a few very hard years. After intense therapy and counselling and years of nightmares and guilt, I finally met these agents. I actually stayed in touch with them and it was because of them that I am here today, not just alive, but also standing on this stage, graduating from the FBI academy. What makes it more special are the guests in the audience. I know that they are not here just for me, one of my fellow classmates just happens to be Jack Hotchner. So now as I walk over this stage to accept my certificate, I look towards the crowd and find them with no trouble.

Aaron Hotchner, the man that helped me more than I could ever say sat next to his wife, the beautiful JJ. Their children sit next to them, clapping equally hard. Then it's Doctor Reid with his family, Morgan, Emily, Garcia, all with their own families. They are all older now, but they are still the heroes that saved my life that day. Rossi's absence is very noticeable. A person always assumed he'd go out in a blaze of glory, but it only took a heart attack to take the life of one of the FBI's finest.

All those years ago, I had the same dreams as any kid. To become a princess or an astronaut. Then for a while I wasn't even sure I wanted to live. When I met these awesome people they showed me that there is something I can do, there is a chance that I can make a difference and, using them as role models, I enrolled in the FBI academy. I want to become a profiler one day. One as good as Aaron Hotchner, or David Rossi, or Derek Morgan.

Maybe I'll get to say my name amongst those great ones one day…

**This is my first Criminal Minds story. I hope you enjoyed it, please leave me a review and let me know what you think. It's also my first first person story, I don't normally write first person stories, but thins one just wouldn't let go.**

**I don't own any of the characters, except Sue, she's from Fleasia – a planet with weird and crazy plot bunnies, which might include another story…**

**Thanks to my beta, C. Nicole for her awesome work.**

**Till next time,**

**Flea**


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